Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation System Project

Aspen assisted the California Energy Commission with the Staff Assessment for the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation System Project. As well as providing the Energy Commission Siting Project Manager, the Aspen Team is responsible for reviewing Geology and Paleontology, Socioeconomics, Traffic and Transportation, Public Health, Visual Resources, and Alternatives. On September 22, 2010, the Energy Commission approved the application for certification and issued a license.

The project includes three solar concentrating thermal power plants, based on distributed power tower and heliostat mirror technology, in which heliostat (mirror) fields focus solar energy on power tower receivers near the center of each heliostat array. Each of the two 100-MW sites would require approximately 850 acres (or 1.3 square miles) and would have three tower receivers and arrays; the 200-MW site would require approximately 1,600 acres (or 2.5 square miles) and would have 4 tower receivers and arrays. The total area required for all three plants, including the administration building/operations and maintenance building and substation, is approximately 3,400 acres (or 5.3 square miles). Given that the three plants are being developed in concert, the solar plant projects share the common facilities mentioned above as well as access roads, and the reconductored transmission lines for all three plants.